detrimental
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of detrimental
Explanation
Detrimental is a formal way of saying "harmful." Anything detrimental hurts, hinders, or puts a damper on something. Detrimental things do damage. Have you ever heard "Smoking may be detrimental to your health" and wondered what it meant? It means that smoking is bad for your health: it's going to harm you in a bunch of ways. Detrimental is a more official, formal way of talking about things that do harm. A dog who likes digging holes can be detrimental to a garden. If you're writing a paper and want to pick an alternative to harmful that sounds more formal, detrimental is a great choice.
Vocabulary lists containing detrimental
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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This Week in Words: January 27 - February 2, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In some cases, people interested in running weren’t sure if renting would be detrimental to their candidacy.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Its personal conduct policy states that “everyone who is a part of the league” must refrain from behavior detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The 18-year-old said scrapping it "would be a huge mistake and detrimental to youth voice across the UK," and it should be allowed to evolve within its current format.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
It can also cause habitat destruction and pollution with severe detrimental effects for chimpanzees, other wildlife and the local people — as it already has in neighboring Guinea.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
I wondered how many other clerks there were upstairs, and whether they all claimed to have the same detrimental mastery of their fellow-creatures.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
